Convert files to another format, easily and for free

Great site that might prove useful to you, www.go2convert.com.  If you have audio or image files that you need converted into another format (ie. .jpg to .tiff or .mps to .ogg), this site is for you.  Simply upload your file, select what format you want it converted to from a list in a drop down menu and hit convert.  Within a minute or so, your conversion is done.  Try it out.

Happy Birthday 10th Birthday Windows XP, now go away!

Ten years ago, Windows XP debuted to much fanfare.  It is amazing that it is still around being used by slightly under 50% of the computerized world.  However, everything dies and so must XP.  It has by far the weakest security of any operating system being used today.  Microsoft has already announced that support for the OS will cease in less than 2 years.  The latest version of Internet Explorer already does not run on XP.  If you are still hanging on, it's time to move on, life is so much better on the other side of XP.  Windows 7 has already surpassed Windows XP in usage.

The need for multiple browsers on your computer

When repairing computers, many of my customers ask why I install Firefox and Chrome when they already have Internet Explorer.  I typically explain that it never hurts to have an alternative browser on your computer.  Often you will load a web page or website that doesnt seem to load correctly or not at all.  In many instances, this is a result of the web browser.  Considering how often web browsers are being updated these days (my personal shot at Firefox and this silly 6 week update schedule), often these updates can cause problems with websites and particular pages.  Today, I had a case of a relative who needed to access Sallie Mae to complete a online registration.  Upon completion of the process, she had to identify a captcha to verify her actions.  For some reason, Firefox (version 6) would not show the captcha.  After determining that nothing in the settings would prevent the image from appearing, I gave up and just told her to use Google Chrome to complete the sign-up.  2 minutes later, we were done.  She was wondering what I did to fix the problem, I simply told her if a certain webpage or site has problems rendering in a particular browser, simply open it in another browser, most times, that solves the problem.  No point in finding out what in Firefox was the issue, they'll just be updating it in the next month again.

What not to do when you steal an iPhone..

Strange case out of California, where a rash of purse snatchings were occurring.  One particular woman had her iPhone take in one theft, but luckily her phone helped her in recovering it.  She had an app on the phone called Photobucket.  One feature of this app is that whenever you take a picture, it automatically uploads it to your Photobucket account.  Our thief was unaware of this and proceeded to take a picture of himself for his own pleasure/amusement.  As you can imagine, the picture showed up in her account online.  The picture was a prime feature on the local news and was very helpful in assisting the police in finding him.

How Technology would have changed 9/11/01

Great article on what technology we have now that we did not have on September 11, 2001 and how it could have changed that tragic day.  Among the many that we did not have: Twitter, Google, Youtube, Cloud computing and Wifi.  The Houston Press article highlights where those technologies were back then and how they would have impacted that day if they had existed as they do today.  Great read.

This firesale really hurts, $206 per unit

HP recently released and then cancelled their HP Touchpad.  It was meant to go head to head against the iPad.  As you may now know, HP went down to a horrid defeat and have cancelled the Touchpad completely.  This past Thursday, HP announced that WebOS and the Touchpad was discontinued and future support for WebOS devices would be eliminated.  Initially HP cut the price by $100 to $399 for the cheapest unit, now by cancelling the device completely, they have dropped the price to $99 for the cheapest unit.  It has been a smashing success, at least for the general public.  They are sold out almost everywhere (to my dismay).  According to TechRepublic, HP is losing $206 on every unit sold.